The Leader has been named the best large weekly newspaper in Arkansas. It has offices in Jacksonville and Cabot and covers north Pulaski County, Lonoke County and White County. The Leader is a family owned and operated newspaper that was founded in 1987.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

SPORTS>>Alumnus taking on basketball at Beebe

By TODD TRAUBLeader sports editor

While everyone is buzzing about the pending start of football, new Beebe coach Ryan Marshall is looking forward to next basketball season.

And many more seasons after that.

Marshall, a Beebe graduate, was named boys basketball coach this summer to replace departed coach Chris Parker, who left after one year to coach women at West Memphis’ Midsouth Community College.

“The facilities here are great and I know most of the teachers and administrators still and I feel like I’ll be working with some good people,” Marshall, 32, said.

Marshall graduated from Beebe in 1996. He was head boys coach at Mountainburg and moved to Clarksville, where for the past three years was head coach for Clarksville’s junior high girls and the assistant girls varsity coach.

“This is home for me,” Marshall said of Beebe. “I graduated here in ‘96 and my family is still located in this area. And obviously coaching senior high boys is what I wanted to do. I kind of got away from that for some family reasons to go to Clarksville.”

Beebe went 4-25 under Parker last year. Parker replaced Brian Martin, who left after two seasons to coach at his alma mater Greenwood.

Marshall said he wants to build a winning mindset and that starts with some continuity at the top after several years of coaching turnover.

“There’s been a lot of transition,” he said. “I just want to let them know ‘Hey, I’m here and this is where I plan on being for awhile,’ and also to let them know we plan on being successful.”

Marshall played at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville and assisted two years. Hesaid his Mountainburg teams were around .500 his two seasons while he won close to 70 games with the girls in Clarksville.

With Beebe moving into the 5A-East Conference from the 5A-Southeast, Marshall said he would try to tailor his offense to his available talent.

“At that level we wanted up-tempo, push, push,” he said of his college playing days at Ozarks. “But in high school you’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt.”

In getting to know his players this summer Marshall has stressed the basics.

“Right now we’re just focusing on fundamentals,” he said. “We’re going to be big on fundamentals, defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball.”

Marshall won’t be sure, until practice officially starts in the fall, exactly what his roster is going to look like. But since the summer athletic dead period ended, he said he has had a promising turnout of close to 25 potential players in the gym.